hey guys. i’ve spent the day pricing blocks of eps and trying to find the best deal. i went to my local lowes and the guy called Dow, who is apparently their only supplier and they don’t do custom sizing apparently. home depot guy told me that i wanted “craft foam” and they didn’t do that stuff, and after i repeatedly explained what i was looking for, he persisted with not helping. i gave up and came home and called some companies directly.
insulfoam in ohio (closest factory from maine according to their site) priced a 10’x2’x1’ block of 2.0lb at $72 which i found to be extremely cheap? he couldn’t quote me the shipping because i reached the guy on his cell phone but he said shipping would be what would kill the price.
universal packaging in maryland quoted me at 139.00 for the same block but they do a minimum of $250 so i’d be buying a 2ft deep block for $250, plus 106.84 for shipping to a business location. that’s right around 360.00 shipped.
the guy from insulfoam also hooked me up with a number of a company out of connecticut that i hadn’t heard of, polar industries. they only do lengths of 8’ and 12’ so i went with the 8’x4’x33" and it was around 175-200, less the shipping.
to me, insulfoam seems to be the choice unless shipping is outrageous. has anyone up in the northeast region recieved a block from them out in ohio, or some similar deal/place? i just soon go with univ pack, although i’m not sure how many boards that 2’ deep block is going to allow? any thoughts? i’d probably make a few logs, few funs, maybe a fish or something as well?
any input on which seems to be the best deal here. i’m a backyard shaper here so i don’t need a huge block but i suppose the more i have the longer i’ll go without having to buy more foam.
I bought a block of 2# EPS that was 12" x 48" x 96" … a little extra on width and length.
My method cuts out 2 pieces, 1/2 board each cut, and then I glue them together. I was able to get 8 boards out of that. I had figured about 6-7 but when I got to the end of the block I had just enough room to cut out the two halves for a 6’ fish.
It all depends of course on what combination of rockers/thickness of boards you use.
As for the foam itself I can’t really help you. I am up in Canada, cross border shipping is way more expensive than in country.
You might look at companies that supply foam for architecture. There are many companies that are cutting eps with CNC machines to make ornamental pieces to be coated with acrylic based stuccos. They make faux columns and crown molding, etc. They buy eps by the truckload. It think some of them own their own expanding process. Who knows, maybe they’ll cut your rockers for you.
I can’t think of any companies in Maine or even New England that make EPS. If you just want EPS I wonder how much the shipping would be from somewhere that sells pre-cut EPS blanks.
Maine is so out of the way for everything but tourists from Ontario. I called around the last time I was up there and nobody even carries blanks. I think the guy at Cinnamon Rainbows said they could order Walker, but that just doesn’t seem worth it. If you’re close to any of the shops up there (I can only think of the one in Portland, and a couple around Wells and York) you could try and convince them to start carrying board supplies like blanks. I know that Warm Winds in Narragansett, RI used to carry blanks, stopped, and now the owner is looking into EPS foams and some of the new PU foams. I don’t know what he decided, but it’s not that far a drive. Don’t know where you are in Maine, but from RI to Portland takes me about 3 hours. This assumes you drive like a bat-outta-hell, but what else is there to do on 95?
I’m a Mainer (Portland area) and did some similar research with similar results. I am a first time builder and didn’t want to spend much $ on my first project. The EPS/Epoxy seemed like the way to go and the only local source for the EPS was the rigid insulation sheets at Lowe’s; it’s only 1 lb. stuff so it will require stonger lamination, but it does shape nicely…although I have nothing to compare that to, as this is my first project. It’s certainly frustrating, the price of foam and even blanks are somewhat reasonable, but the shipping (especially to Maine) is outrageous.
I went with 1 lb EPS for my first board too. It’s the only option for a lot of people because of shipping costs. There is a Insulofoam factory near me in Virginia, but I think the minimum order of some ridiculous amount of money is what made me go with the 1 lb.
When I was in Windham I went over to the brand new Lowes to check it out and overheard one of the staff talking about actually going out without a wetsuit in the summer. We started talking and I told her about the board I made and she was amazed you could use that stuff to make boards.
thanks for the replies everyone. yeah i’ve shaped a few boards previous to this and now i’m trying to step it up a little. i went xps glue up on my last effort and i’d just rather have a big block of better foam (denser eps) to cut from. i’ve tried lookin in the yellow pages and things online to find if any architectural companies, or insulation companies around here can hook me up but haven’t had much luck. it seems kind of backwards that guys out in warmer climates like florida can readily get a large block of eps, while people up here where insulation foam is actually necessary have no luck. weeeiiird. haha.
i think i’ll give the insulfoam guy a call on his cell tomorrow and see if he can at least ballpark a shipping quote. maybe the ups or fed ex calculators might give me a good idea? who knows. but 72 seems pretty cheap for a block like that. anyways…ill keep you updated, and also if anyone has any other input or ideas…please post. thanks!
grick, i’ve seen your posts on nesurf, i’d be interested to see some photos of your project. i’m also in the portland area, good to see another swaylocker (swaylockian?) in the same city!
hey man new here to the sight and about to start my first project going to be an 8ft hybrid as i surf in washington and its always pretty mushy here. I got my eps foam from the building supply that i work at. Try to find a building supply place near you and ask for the insulation foam. i got two sheets of 24" by 8ft by 8" thick foam for 60 bucks total. I had the comapany order it so the shipping didn’t cost me a thing. If i were you I would locate some new construction around your area and talk to the contractors to see where they get there materials. Good luck with the foam just remeber there is always a way to find a deal on it.
207 I bought block that came from the Insulfoam plant in Ohio a couple of years ago. That plant supplies the Lowes stores here in Michigan. When you talk to your contact at Insulfoam find out who thier dealers are in Maine then work though the dealer and your Insulfoam contact. I did that though Lowes. I just had to wait until Lowes got its next shipment from Ohio. It only took about 2 weeks and there was no shipping charge. Of course I had to find the right person at Lowes who was willing call Insulfoam and place the order but having a contact name and phone number is very helpful. Good Luck
hey guys. latest calls have yielded me a place in MA (about an 2.5 hour drive to pick up). they’ll sell 1lb eps in 10’x2’x1’ for 43.00. they won’t do that length for 2lb, so an 8x2x1 in 2lb is 57.00. so i’m looking at just over 100 after taxes for a couple blocks. my question is, is 1lb even worth it. i’m going to have to use a lot of glass on it to make it work am i not? my plan is to shape lb’s out of the 10’ block, a few funboards and sb’s out of the 8 footer.
I don’t think the 1 lb EPS is worth it. If you’re going to go to the trouble of getting good foam (not in sheets from Home Depot) then you should go for what works, 2 lb. This way you don’t have to worry about vent plugs and the like. It also takes a lot of glass to reinforce them. I just discovered a couple of days ago that my 1 lb EPS board has pressure dings from where I grab the board when I pop up. And that’s with 3 layers of 6 oz.
Your plan seems a little backwards to me, but my longboards (noseriders) benefit from the heavier weights. Gluing 8’ blocks into 10’ lengths with foaming pu glue is no problem at all, hotwire goes through the line too.
I’d use the 2# for longboards and the 1# for shorts…
Cut them all in the 1’ dimension & you can stack the rockers as you cut. You’ll get more blanks from each block that way. Even if you don’t use stringers, the glue line will stiffen up the blanks a bit & help in shaping & is a good visual reference.
If you’re bagging on skins of any kind, you can cut them flat too. Just make your cutting templates for thickness & leave the deck side rocker perfectly flat. You can bend in the rocker you want when bagging with a rocker table (made from offcuts) or just with weights on stands. You really maximize your foam by cutting flat…
yeah i know it’s backwards, but i didn’t know if the 1lb would suffice. i’d rather use 2lb for the longboards because i want a heavier, stronger, more classic weight anyways. i dont exactly follow what you mean by cutting in 1’ dimension and stacking? is this the same as you have mentioned before about cutting the rocker in 1’ blocks along the width??
is the 2lb 8’ a good price at 57.00 do you think? i have some ideas for some shorter boards anyways and i need to make my sister a funboard/mini longboard anyways.
Yeah, I think your $57 is dynamite. The cheapest I’ve found out here (Dower found it, really) for 2# was $88 for 4’x8’x8".
The best way to maximize your cutting, I’ve found, is to cut a 6’-6.5’ fish first, centered in the middle. You then have a lot of room front & back to cut higher-rockered blanks without losing foam to deck off cuts. And the most efficient way to do this is to set your block on edge & cut 2 pieces, each 1’ wide, for each blank. Its hard to describe, but hopefully it makes sense.
You can also buy 2 of those blocks and cut one short by 1.5’ & glue that onto the other - you then get 4 9’6"es and 4 6’6"es for $114…$14.25 per blank sounds pretty good to me
Listen guys, I dont mean to be a wet blanket on the thread, but do yourself a favor. If this is your first time making a board, get yourself a pre rockered, stringered blank. Give Ken at Segway a call (airframe here in swaylocks land).
Your going to spend a lot of time building a hot wire, getting a transformer, stringer material, foam…etc. Do you really think it’s going to cost less than someone who is already doing it? Plus where are you going to store all that gear & foam once you make it. I don’t know about you, but blank storage is the hardest part of my out of control obsession.
And your going to want #2 EPS, don’t mess with the #1 lb stuff. That HD stuff is crap. (peeling the plastic off, gluing up sheets, trying to get some kind of rocker with bricks & rocks). If you use the #1 stuff your going to have to add so much more glass, that your cost & weight will go through the roof. Yep, I said it, #1 = Heavy board. Why? your going to need like a 3x6 oz glass job and if you use regular cloth, it will suck resin like a sponge. And if you use Impact glass it’s going to cost $$, and the stuff isn’t the easiest to work with… So, your looking at $80+ for the blank, $80 for RR & AddF, 40+ for the cloth, $30 fin & plugs…tape, sand paper etc…
Your only looking at maybe saving $20-$30 bucks. Saving a few bucks on the foam isn’t the way to go. Go with someone that already has the rockers and stringer set up. It’s going to be hard enough shaping a square block for the first time, don’t need to compound the problems. Hey if it turns out great, buy the huge block of foam, and get yourself 30 blanks!!
I was keeping my mouth shut but Resinhead had to speak up…
Some of the San Diego crew bought a large block of foam and made our own blanks and we are all in various stages of experimenting with 2# EPS. I’m updating as we go but life some times gets in the way. (do a search)
Current cost for Shipman/Stingray blanks is over $35 per blank not counting man hours and tools. Man hours really make our blanks closer to $85 but we stopped counting. I got really high on hot wire fumes so be careful.
I know shipping is a big cost for many people.
We had fun making our own blanks but…is it worth the $$$$$$. You decide
Yup, it’s worth it. I’m becoming more and more of a DIY guy. Christ, I’d probably weave my own glass if I could. Scraping blanks off a block with a guitar string and an HO train transformer, screwing around with stringer material and glass combos. C’mon, stingray, you gotta love it!
